Chapter 12

Rose

I don't know how I felt at this particular moment. My breath was too loud, my heartbeat too fast, my palms too sweaty, everything was just ... too much! I've never been in a situation like this and my brain was out of order, I couldn't even think straight. Dimitri was too close for me to think properly, or to utter even a single word.
It was strange, I've known Dimitri now for quite some time and we've been through a lot, we even marked each other, with a lot of groping and moaning and what do I know, but … we haven't kissed yet, not once. And God I wanted to! We have been so close to each other so many times and every time I had to fight the urge to kiss him, wait scratch that, I had to fight the urge to attack his mouth with mine, I was becoming that desperate! I couldn't imagine what it would be like to really kiss him, but I wanted to find out! After the burning sensation left behind only from his kisses on my cheek or my forehead or – Oh my God – his sucking on my neck!
God, what was he waiting for?!, I growled in my head.
Dimitri still stared into my eyes and I think he maybe saw the change in my eyes, the growing frustration and desperation for his lips to finally meet mine. If it was even possible, his eyes became even darker and his body pressed more into mine and that alone brought a little moan out of me. It seemed to encourage Dimitri because he smirked and lowered his lips to mine. His eyes looking at my lips like a piece of meat for a starving man.

BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! UUUUHHHHUUUU!!! UUUUUUUHHHHHUUUU!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!

Suddenly the loud noise of the fire alarm interrupted us. But not only that, but the ice cold water that came crashing down on us. We didn't move for a moment, until Dimitri cut the silence.
“Seriously?”, Dimitri growled and looked up to the sprinklers, getting even more soaked in the process.
I couldn't help but giggle. He looked so mad right now, it was actually funny. Dimitri looked murderously, he looked like he wanted to hurt someone for interrupting us. It gave me a warm feeling in my stomach, it gave me a feeling of power. He wanted me and that gave my ego a huge boost!
“This is so not funny!”, Dimitri growled.
I giggled again.

“Just a little”, I said, showing him a small gap between my thump and forefinger.
Dimitri's mouth twitched lightly upwards, but he still glared at me.
“There better be a fucking huge fire!”, Dimitri grumbled and turned to leave. “Let's go.”
“I'm not dressed”

“God, I've noticed”, Dimitri growled outraged. “Just … Argh! Just … put something on.”

Dimitri looked like it really pained him to tell me to get dressed again without having used the spur of the moment and ravishing my body. Like I said: Funny in an ironical way. Dimitri turned around and slammed the door after him. I began shivering from the cold of the water and tried to get dressed. Have you ever tried to get dressed while you are drenched, your clothes are soaked and water was falling in your face and you couldn't really see anything? No? Well, don't try it, it sucks!
Another tip: If a fire alarm goes of and the sprinklers turn on, there usually really is a fire and when there is an actual fire, you shouldn't take your time while getting dressed!
Suddenly Dimitri came back in and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Forget the clothes, come on!”
He took my hand and dragged me out of the store. The fire came from the stock area and smoke filled a part of the store. I was instantly reminded of the fire in our apartment, what the hell was it with us and fires these days?
“Come on!”, Dimitri shouted over the loud noise and dragged me out of the store.

In front of the store stood fifteen to twenty people, at least eight of them were drenched as well and looked a little shaken up. Some other people just stared. Sarah stood together with her colleagues and discussed something animatedly about something, probably what was going to happen now with them and the store.
A while later I noticed that a lot of people gathered around our little group and all stared at me and when I looked down, I saw that I was still only in my bra and panties.

“Dimitri”, I whisper shouted.

His gaze that was fixed on the store came down on me and he raised one eyebrow.

“Give me your jacket”, I demanded.
At first Dimitri just frowned until he realized what I was wearing or well, not wearing. His eyes went huge and he threw his jacket around me, glaring at all the ogling people a few feet away from us. Because Dimitri was that much taller than me, his jacket went to my knees, I guess that came in handy in situations like these.
“Thanks”, I stuttered.

I began shivering from the cold. My body was wet, Dimitri's jacket was wet and the sun wasn't warm enough to help me. To top it all of a cold wind blew and made it worse.
“We need to get you home”, Dimitri said.

“N- N- N- No Sh- Shit, Sher- r – lock”, I stuttered.

I smiled reassuring at Dimitri, but it didn't seem to work. He was dead serious and even looked a little worried and a little pale himself.

“Give me my phone”, Dimitri said. “I'll call Ivan to come pick us up.”

The police came after three more minutes and took Dimitri's statement, while I was brought into an ambulance. Within another ten minutes Ivan pulled up in his blue BMW. When Ivan pulled up Dimitri took me out of the ambulance and told the guy who checked my temperature to 'get the fuck away from his wife or die a painful death'. The guy paled instantly and backed as far away from me as possible. Trust me, nothing is scarier than a pissed of Russian God! Dimitri then hold a hand out to me and we walked up to Ivan's car.

During the drive to our home I fell asleep to the sound of Ivan and Dimitri talking rapidly in Russian.
The next time I awoke, I was laying warm and comfortable in my bed. I felt well rested and smiled a small smile. When I opened my eyes I saw that it was dark outside, the alarm clock read 1:26am. Sighing I looked out the window.

Suddenly there was a moan and I felt arms around me tighten. Surprised I looked down my body. Dimitri was sprawled out over me. His head rested on my stomach, just underneath my breasts, his arms were slung around my upper body and one of legs was over both of mine. It was only due to this massive bed, that Dimitri still fitted into it and his legs didn't hover over the floor, high in the air.

Dimitri rubbed his head more in to my stomach and moaned again. I smiled at the gesture, but frowned at the same time because of the moaning. Wiggling a little underneath him and trying to free myself, Dimitri's hold only tighten around me and a sort of growl erupted from his chest. Shocked I stopped struggling, feeling Dimitri's 'friend' against my thigh and now knowing exactly what the moaning was about. Dimitri seemed to adjust to the new position and searched for a new comfortable position for him. After a while he found it and sighed satisfied.

I looked down, but it wasn't like in the movies. He didn't have this little smile on his lips or did something cute with his nose or anything else, he just … slept. But it was true that he looked more peaceful while he was asleep. The thing was … he didn't look peaceful and innocent, like every other boy in the books or movies, he only looked more peaceful than usual. He still had lines of stress on his forehead and his eyes couldn't seem to stop moving. Even while he was asleep (and probably having a sex dream), he looked … hunted.
With thoughts about the reason for this hunted look on his face or the person he was mentally having sex with, I fell asleep again.

The next morning Dimitri was still draped above me, but his hold wasn't as strong as it was last night. With a little but of effort I could free myself from under him and ran to the bathroom. I really needed to pee! While I was in the bathroom I tried to be as silent as possible, so I didn't wake Dimitri up.

When I went to the kitchen, I found Rachel again. She stood in front of the stove and cooked something that smelled delicious!
“Good morning, Mrs Belikov”, she greeted me.
“Good morning, Rachel”, I smiled. “Please, call me Rose.”

She smiled in return and nodded. Rachel asked me if I wanted something to eat and showed me what she made, it was something Russian I couldn't pronounce, but she told me it tasted great, so I tried it. And it really was delicious!

While I ate, I talked to Rachel. She was actually quite nice and told me a bit about herself, her life and the time she worked for the Belikov's. I listened intently when she talked about Dimitri and what she thought about him. Rachel told me about the 'old' Dimitri and the 'new' Dimitri, apparently there had been a change, but she wouldn't tell me what or when it was.

“Yes, he really did”, Rachel laughed. “He was only eight, and he was so cute. When we found him -”

“ROZA!”

Rachel and I both flinched, when we heard the booming voice. Shocked we looked into each others wide eyes. That was definitely Dimitri screaming my name, but why?

“ROSE!”, he screamed again, more frantic.

I heard his loud footsteps while they ran down the hall and to the stairs. What the hell had happened? There was desperation and even a little hint of fear in his voice. What was going on?

“GOD DAMMIT!”, he shouted again. “ROSE!”

I sprang from my stool and ran in his direction, he shouted bloody murder through the halls, waking probably the whole building up. What was it? Was he hurt? Did something happen? Was he okay? His pounding footsteps came rushing down the stairs, Dimitri rounded the corner and saw me rushing to him.

“Rose!”, he said relieved.

He sprinted to me and scooped me up in his arms. I felt like he was going to crush me. Dimitri's left arm was around my waist, pressing me against him, his right hand in my hair and his nose buried in my hair right behind my ear, inhaling my scent.

“Don't this to me”, he whispered.
His breath fanned over my skin and I shivered. I could barely breath, so strong was Dimitri's hold on me, but I didn't complain. He hold onto me like his life depended on it and I didn't know why, but I felt the need to let him.

“What?”, I choked out, wondering what he meant.

For a second Dimitri's hold tighten and then he pulled away a little, to look into my eyes. His arm stayed firmly around my waist, and the other hand went from my hair to my cheek.

“You can't leave me like that”, he told me firmly, shaking his head. “You can't do that to me, Rose.”

“I- I”, I stuttered. “I'm sorry, I was just in the kitchen.”

I frowned at him. Dimitri looked so damn worried, like I could disappear any moment forever. Why was he like this? Why was he so afraid I could be gone without a word?

“I was worried sick Rose”, Dimitri sighed and hugged me again.

We stood like that for a while, me listening to Dimitri's heartbeat, he breathing down my neck. After a while he told me why he was so worried. Apparently while I slept in the car yesterday, I kept on rambling nonsense and fought a fever. I couldn't remember any of this, but why should he lie, right? Dimitri told me I cried, because I was in so much pain and woke him up in the middle of the night screaming my lungs out. He told me I shouted his name, telling him to take it away from me, to make it stop, but he couldn't. I think I apologized at least ten times, when he told me this, but Dimitri just shook it off.

Only a few minutes after he ended his story he began coughing.

“You okay?”, I asked.

He couldn't answer because of a new coughing fit, so he only nodded, not convincing me!

“Dimitri, you're sick”, I stated.

“Am not”, he coughed.

Dimitri insisted that he was fine and we both got ready for school. Today was Friday, the day of the ball, and he said we needed to be there and couldn't skip school. But Dimitri couldn't even dress himself, so in the end, he stayed home.
“Rachel!”, I shouted. “Could you -?”
When I went downstairs I saw Rachel standing in the door frame of the front door.

“Wow, wow, wow, Rachel!”, I shouted. “Where are you going?”

She frowned at me and looked a little unsure.

“Home?”, she asked. “My shift is over and I need to get home. Rose, I told you my sister is getting married today.”

“I thought it was this afternoon”, I replied.

“It is”, she nodded. “But I need to get dressed myself and then help her and all the other bride maids and the kids and so on. Rose, why are you asking me this, I'm in a hurry.”

She looked a little panicked with being late and with wide pleading eyes, begging me to let her go, so she could be on time.

“N- Nothing,” I told her with a little smile. “Get going.”

“You sure?”, she asked.

“Yes, yes, I am”, I said unconvincing.

She didn't bother anymore and rushed out the door. Now, we had a problem, I thought. I couldn't leave Dimitri alone, he looked like the walking dead and could barely lift his arms on his own. But I couldn't just skip school now, could I? In the end I did skip school, I called there and told them we were both sick. It may sound weird, but this was the first lie I ever told a teacher and I felt damn nervous that he would know I lied, but to my astonishment the voice on the other line just asked if I knew that this meant I couldn't attend the ball this night. I said I knew that and that I wouldn't come anyways, because I was sick. She just sighed and hung up on me.

Shaking my head I went to the kitchen again and made Dimitri some soup and a tea in case he was hungry or thirsty. It was a little difficult to get the tablet I put the tea and soup on upstairs and into our bedroom, but I managed.

“Rose?”, Dimitri croaked. “What are you still doing here?”

“Taking care of you”, I answered. “Can you sit up?”

Dimitri shook his head, moaning and scrunching his face up, looking pained.

“Come on, I'll help you”, I said.

We managed to sit Dimitri up against the headboard, but it took a lot of effort on his part. I tell you, when women get a cold they still go to work, take care of their kids and so on, but when men get sick, it's like they won't survive the night to see the next day!
“I have some soup for you.”

But Dimitri shook his head like a stubborn child.

“Tea?”, I asked, knowing he would deny it.

And? He did!

“Too hot”, he whined, slightly pouting.

It was cute in a way and I smiled at him, brushing his hair away from his face. When only my fingertips touched his forehead they burned.

“God Dimitri, you're hot!”, I said shocked.

“I know”, he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes at his lame joke.

“You have a fever”, I stated. “We need to cool you down.”

I went up from the bed and went into the bathroom again. In one of the closets in our bedroom were towels, I picked two and drenched them with cold water. Then I went back into our bedroom. I ripped the blanket from Dimitri, who protested weakly, but otherwise stayed silent. I took a hold of his left ankle and lifted his leg up.

“What are you doing?”, Dimitri mumbled, barely able to open his eyes.

“Cooling you down”, I said.

I picked one of the towels and laid it down on the bed, but when Dimitri's hot skin came into contact with the cold wet towel, he screeched like a banshee, his eyes shot open and he sat up away from me and the cold.

“What the hell, Rose?”, he screamed.

“Dimitri, give me your leg”, I sighed. “You're too hot and we need to cool you down.”

Dimitri frowned slightly and pouted again.

“But it's too cold.”

Seriously? He pouted and told me the way to cool him down, was to cold? He behaved like a three year old!

“Seriously, Dimitri?”, I asked, still keeping my calm. “Of course it's cold, it's not that bad, you will get used to it after the first shock.”

Pouting Dimitri shook his head. I had to admit that it was cute and smiled a little at him, but I still needed to cool him down, whether he liked it or not.

“Dimitri, you're sick. Don't you want to get better?”

“I do”, he said nodding, still with this innocent look in his eyes. “But can't I just go to sleep? It's good to sleep when you're sick, right?”

I sighed. It was, but I still wanted to cool him down with the towels, because his temperature bothered me a little. In the end Dimitri was too stubborn and I let him sleep. While he slept I did something in our apartment, cooked another soup for Dimitri and did some homework that was due on Tuesday.

And then I got an idea. Maybe Olena could help me with Dimitri, so I called her.

“Olena Belikov?”, she answered after the second ring.

“Hello Olena, this is Rose.”

“Roza”, I could hear the smile in her voice. “How are you? How is Dimitri? Is your apartment okay again? Do you know what caused the fire now? Do you -”

“Olena”, I laughed. “I'll answer later, but right now I need your help. Your son is sick and -”

“Oh no, you poor girl”, she gasped.

“No, Olena”, I said frowning. “Dimitri is sick, I'm fine.”

“I understand”, she sighed. “But you don't know how he is when he gets sick. It's terrible, he gets whiny and clingy, gets mood swings. Hell, at one time I thought he was behaving like a second Karolina! While she was pregnant!”

I giggled at that.

“So you don't have any advise for me?”

“Run?”, she laughed.

I laughed loudly with her. We talked for a few more minutes until I heard Dimitri scream my name. Olena wished me good luck three times and told me to call her again when Dimitri was fine again.
After Dimitri's little nap, he was more bearable to be around. He ate his soup with little complaining and whined less about his aching muscles or his sore throat.

“Dimitri”, I said, when I put the now empty bowl away.

“Hmm?”, he asked.

“You still have a fever”, I said with a little teasing smile.

“Noooo”, he whined. “Please Roza, no!”

He took a hold of my hand and looked at me with pleading eyes. He looked so innocent and child like in this state I couldn't help but crack under his gaze.

“Fine”, I said and Dimitri smiled a huge smile. “But we open the windows!”

“Okay”, he said smiling.

Dimitri lay down again with content sigh and a smile on his lips, his eyes trained on me and following me around the room. I opened every window we had in the room and brought the now cold tea and empty soup bowl down into the kitchen again. Then I went back to Dimitri.

“Do you need anything else? A book or your iPod or something?”, I asked.

Dimitri shook his head with a little smile.

“Just you”, he smiled. “Would you lay down with me?”

I think I gasped and looked with wide eyes at Dimitri, but he just smiled and beckoned me to come into bed with him. And because Dimitri was laying there shirtless, I couldn't resist and nodded, risking another fever. So I lay down with him, Dimitri's arms encircled my waist and with a content sigh we both drifted into a dreamless slumber.

-o-o-o- Thrown Into His World -o-o-o-

The next time I awoke, it wasn't on my own account. I felt lips on my stomach and came back to my senses. Light, butterfly kisses were spread all over my stomach. Hands caressed over the sides of my stomach, over my thighs, over my arms and hands, playing with my fingers. My breath hitched lightly, luckily without a noticeable sound. I didn't open my eyes, not wanting the kisses to end if I did. But then I felt the lips on my stomach form into a smirk.

“I know you're awake”, his deep voice mumbles, continuing to kiss my stomach, but getting a little higher.

If he knew I was awake and kept kissing my body like that, that meant something, I knew it did, but I couldn't seem to care right now. I just felt at this moment, I didn't think about anything. Bliss, pleasure, heaven, Dimitri, those were the only words in my mind right now.

I heard and felt Dimitri chuckle on my stomach. He stopped kissing me, which made me whimper in protest. Dimitri crawled up my body and then I could feel his breath fanning over my face.

“Thanks for taking care of me”, he whispered, he lips almost brushing against mine.
Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!, I chanted in my head. I waited and waited but the kiss never came, but I knew Dimitri stayed above me, because I felt and heard him. And then I couldn't take it any longer and opened my eyes.

Dimitri looked down on me, amusement clear in his eyes and a taunting smile on his lips. I took a deep breath, my chest brushing against his, and his stare becoming darker and finally he lowered his head! I think I heard the bells ringing and the angels sing, but a millimeter in front of my lips, he changed directions and his lips brushed along my cheek bone, kissing my temple, wandering to my ear. He nibbled on my earlobe and I couldn't hold back a moan. I arched my back off the mattress and bucked my hips up against his, without really realizing I did so. One hand grabbed his shoulder, the other found its way into his hair.

“God”, I moaned when he again sucked on my neck. “Ungh!”

And then his weight was suddenly lifted from my body and I lay there, the cold air piercing my skin. My eyes snapped open and I looked at Dimitri with wide eyes. He stood at the end of the bed pulling a shirt over his head.

“Seriously?”, I screeched.

Dimitri chuckled when he saw me laying there, totally surrendering him and putty in his hands. He just smirked down at me and laughed lightly, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“This is not funny!”, I told him, glaring at him.

“Just a little”, Dimitri laughed out loud, throwing my words from the store back at me.

What the hell?!, I thought. He did this to torture me? He did this to get to me, while I spent the last day taking care of him?! Was he being serious?

A plan formed in my head. Two could play this game, Belikov! You want to see me surrender for your kiss?
I won't, I promised myself.
I would break him, I said to myself.

This weekend would be hell on earth for him!

He could watch all he wanted, but he wouldn't be allowed to touch until he begged me!, I growled in my head, getting ready to seduce my husband and searching for something to wear!